


Don't Watch

by Spinedog



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-17 23:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17570039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spinedog/pseuds/Spinedog
Summary: A mother's love is inevitable, unpredictable, and deadly. (Quick one-shot involving what might have happened to Adam had Raven intervened)





	Don't Watch

**Author's Note:**

> A quick one-shot written after "Stealing From the Elderly" aired, when I was all about Adam dying but on the fence about the girls killing him themselves. I actually was quite happy with how it was handled in the canon, but this was fun to write and I'm still fond of it. I'd originally posted it on tumblr, but now that I've finally gotten my account sorted, I figured I may as well post it here. Do enjoy!

The furious clanging of the two dust-infused blades were faint in Yang’s ears. All she could focus on were Blake’s wide, scared golden eyes, fixated on the scene happening in front of them.

A woman’s calm voice drowned out Adam’s enraged bellows. “I was never meant to be a mother.”

Yang gritted her teeth, crawling towards her motionless partner. She knew how this fight would end. And as much as she despised Adam, as much as she loathed the fact that she hadn’t been able to kill him herself, he had once been Blake’s partner. She didn’t want her to see him die like this. Yang rolled Blake’s bruised body to face her. “Blake. Look at me.”

“I don’t know how to be loving. Or nurturing.”

A golden, metallic arm snaked under Blake’s ribcage, lifting her and pressing her face against Yang’s collarbone. “Listen to me. Close your eyes.”

A vicious, wet slice, followed by a scream and that deadly calm voice. “I still don’t understand this voice in my chest. It roars any time that girl is in danger, no matter where she is or what I should be doing.”

Yang’s jaw clenched. “Don’t watch.” But even as she tightened her grip around the black haired faunus, shielding her from what was about to happen, she knew that she was a hypocrite. Because her own eyes had already lifted.

She didn’t expect to see Raven’s red eyes locked on her. Blood dripped from her sword as the woman stood tall over Adam, her gaze momentarily diverted to her daughter. Her eyes flicked to Blake, then back down to the wounded faunus. Yang clutched Blake’s head a little tighter as red flames sprouted from Raven’s eyes. “I’m many things that I wasn’t meant to be, I suppose.”

Adam’s remaining eye went wide, snarling like a wild, trapped animal as he fought to push away the boot firmly planted on his blood-soaked chest. Yang felt her hand begin to shake.

“But, this?” Raven lowered her blade. She knelt directly on Adam’s chest. Yang could see him trying to push her away, but he was powerless to stop the hand that almost tenderly laid on his cheek.

Her mother’s voice gave way into an enraged rumble, as though the God of Destruction himself spoke through her.

“This, I understand.”

Fingers slid into Yang’s hair. A weak whisper in her ear as her head was pulled down. “Don’t watch.” She caught a flash of Blake’s golden eyes before hers obeyed.

There was no scream. No violent slashes or ripping, or spilling of blood. Just a sizzling rasp, and a brief gust of wind.

When Yang looked up, all that remained of Adam was a patch of scorched grass and his stupid sword and sheath, laying off to the side. Raven, the Maiden flames extinguished, eyed the sword almost mournfully. She raised her own blade and slashed once, flicking blood droplets through the air and opening a portal.

“…I saw the rest of your team north of here, on the coastline. They’re battling with the Atlesian military. You should go to them, if you’re in any shape to fight.”

 _Do we look like we’re in any shape to fight?!_ Yang nodded mutely.

For a long moment, both women paused. Yang could think of both a million things and nothing to say. Raven, for once, seemed to be in a similar state of limbo - no snarky comments about gratitude or favors, just a solemn silence.

Maybe it was better that way.

As though hearing her thoughts, Raven pulled a cloth from her belt and cleaned off her blade in one easy stroke, then sheathed it as she took two steps towards the portal. Then the woman who suddenly looked very, very old glanced over her shoulder, wreathed in red light.

“That stupid dog misses you and your sister.”

One more step, and Raven was gone.

Silence rang out in the clearing, and Yang’s hand didn’t stop shaking. There were so many questions, and yet at the moment she didn’t care about a single one.

Blake moved, and only now did Yang fully realize that she had been kneeling with Blake in her lap the entire time. “So, the mutt is still around?” Her voice was thin and sounded as shaky as Yang felt.

But Yang still gave her an exhausted smile. “Honestly, not sure if she meant Zwei or my father.”

Blake gave a weak snort of laughter and curled in tighter to Yang.


End file.
